HOT SPRINGS ARK. — The University of Denver held off No. 11 seed Florida International 71-64 on Saturday night in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament.
Sophomore Justin Coughlin had a career-high 17 points, including 11 in the second half, and sophomore guard Brian Stafford also had 17 points to lead the Pioneers (18-12).
Senior guard Nate Rohners added 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds, and freshman guard Chase Hallam had 14 points and six rebounds.
“Everybody in this league knows that any team can beat any other team on any given night,” DU coach Joe Scott said. “Our guys did a good job grinding it out. We basically did what we had to do to win the game.”
Denver battled the Golden Panthers (7-25) through four ties and 12 lead changes until Stafford hit a 3-pointer with 12:51 remaining in the second half to put DU ahead for good.
But FIU hung around, cutting the Denver lead to one point with 6:19 left in the game. Then the Pioneers quickly expanded their lead with a pair of free throws by Stafford and a dunk and a free throw by Coughlin.
The Pioneers face third-seeded Middle Tennessee in a quarterfinal tonight.
Phil Gary had 23 points for Florida International (7-25), which lost its ninth straight game. Marlon Bright added 16 points and nine rebounds, and Stephon Weaver had 12 points.
Denver’s 18 wins are the second-most in its Division I history and the most by the Pioneers since going 20-11 in 2004-05.
Both teams spent a lot of time at the free-throw line Saturday.
Denver was 27-for-35 at the line, and Florida International was 21-for-26.
The Pioneers lost 57-50 at Middle Tennessee last month in the teams’ only meeting of the season.
